1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a biochip capable of performing qualitative and quantitative analyses simply without a separate tag by including a metal nanoparticle layer on a multilayer substrate.
2. Background Art
A biochip is a hybrid device made in the form of an existing semiconductor chip by combining bio-organic matters derived from living creatures, such as enzymes, proteins, antibodies, DNA, microorganisms, animal or plant cells, organs, neurons, etc., with inorganic matters, such as semiconductors or glass. Using inherent functions of biomolecules and mimicking functions of organisms, the biochip diagnoses infectious diseases or analyzes genes and thus can be used as a new functional device for processing information.
Depending on the biological substances and the degree of systemization, the biochip is classified into a DNA chip, an RNA chip, a protein chip, a cell chip, a neuron chip, etc. In a broad definition, the biochip can also include a biosensor capable of detecting and analyzing a variety of biochemical substances, such as a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) that integrates having automatic analyzing functions, including pretreatment of samples, biochemical reaction, detection, and data analysis.
The biochip-based analysis involves labeling a sample with a tag such as a fluorescent substance and applying an excited radiation to the sample to measure the emission wavelength and intensity. The analysis system using a fluorescent substance is, however, extremely complicated in detection method, requiring expensive equipment for analysis at high cost and entailing difficulty of long-term measurement due to low luminous efficiency and relatively short life span of fluorescent bodies.